BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven baseball team concluded its non-conference schedule with a 6-2 win over visiting LIU Post on Wednesday at Frank Vieira Field. A two-run double from Joe Romanelli (Baldwin, N.Y./Holy Trinity) was the biggest swing of the afternoon.
 
With the victory, New Haven improves to 27-12 on the season. The Pioneers now stand at 14-27.
 
In addition to Romanelli’s two-run double, the Chargers’ offense benefitted from a Zach Collett (Westbrook, Maine/Westbrook) RBI and a single and stolen base apiece from from Stephen Clout (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern), Brendan O’Reilly and Nick Nunziato (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville).
 
Taylor Candage (Portland, Maine/Deering) took the ball for the Chargers and worked the first six innings to earn the win. The right-hander moved to 5-1 after ceding two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out a pair. Joey Royer (Westbrook, Maine/Cheverus) bridged the gap with two scoreless innings of action and fellow southpaw Connor Moriarty (Branford, Conn./Branford) notched the final three outs in scoreless fashion to cap the victory.
 
The loss went to Greg Gonzalez, dropping him to 0-1. The Pioneers’ righty went five innings, allowing six runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks while picking up a strikeout.
 
LIU Post struck first with a run in top of the first inning. Keith Herring led off the game with a double and stole third to start up the offense. After a walk, Candage did his job by inducing a double play, but the twin killing allowed Herring to come home and claim a 1-0 advantage.
 
New Haven broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning with help from a pair of Pioneers’ fielding errors. Chris DeMorais (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) worked a walk to lead off the frame and took second on a Kyle Cullen (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) sacrifice bunt.  The next batter was Andrew Johnson (Branford, Conn./Branford / Wheaton), whose flyball to left field was lost in the sun and dropped by Joey Arena, allowing DeMorais to score the tying run. Nunziato followed with a single to put runners on the corners and a wild pitch plated Johnson and allowed Nunziato – who was running on the pitch – to come around to third. The Chargers ran the lead to 3-1 on a Collett RBI groundball.
 
The Pioneers trimmed the margin to 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single from Rich Maccarone, though the LIU Post centerfielder was cut down by Clout attempting to stretch the hit into a double with two outs.
 
UNH would quickly rebuild the lead in the bottom of the frame, led off by a Clout single. After O’Reilly reached on an infield hit, Romanelli cleared the bags with a two-run double, increasing the Chargers’ edge to three runs and chasing Pioneers’ starter Greg Gonzalez from the game. The fourth LIU Post error of the game allowed another run to bring the tally to its eventual final of 6-2.
 
The Chargers return to the diamond at Frank Vieira Field this weekend for a three-game series with Northeast-10 Southwest Division foe Adelphi to conclude the regular season. The set begins on Friday, May 3 with a 3:30 p.m. outing followed by a noon doubleheader on Saturday. New Haven, which has already clinched an NE-10 postseason berth, can claim the Northeast-10 Southwest Division title with two wins over the Panthers.
 
Due to UNH Spring Weekend festivities being held at North Campus, fans are advised that the parking lot will be closed on Saturday, May 4. Parking is available on the University’s main campus in addition to the parking lot across from Echlin Hall.